The Distant Sounds came out of Bartlett High School in Webster, Massachusetts, about 15 miles south of Worcester.
“It Reminds Me”, written by drummer Dennis Casaubon, is a fine example of New England garage. The band’s name is appropriate given the somewhat murky recording quality, but I think it all adds up to a great record. The guitarist picking notes off chords combines well with the keyboards in the background. The vocal harmonies are great and I like the crude guitar solo.
The flip is a slow surf instrumental called “Dreamin'”, written by Ben Bembenek. The record was pressed at the Rite plant in Cincinnati, Ohio, a low-cost plant used by many bands at the time, and released on the Citation label.
Rhythm guitarist Bob Stockdale wrote to me about the Distant Sounds:
Billy Meagher was the lead singer and Jimmy Duszlak played bass guitar. I played rhythm guitar and Ben Benbebek played lead guitar. Ed Catteau later joined the group on keyboard. I think Ed was from Charlton MA.
We played a lot of dances at the Killdeer Island Club in Webster Ma. We also played at many places in the surrounding towns. It was nice money for school kids. On some weekends we made $50 plus each, if we had 2 gigs. We once played in Connecticut as an opening act to the Turtles. Dennis Casaubon’s dad set us up to play in New York City. His brother was a priest and provided a place to sleep a couple nights in the Big Apple.
Ben, Jimmy and I graduated from Bartlett High School in the ’60s in Webster MA. Dennis was a summer resident of Webster but went to High School in Southbridge MA, his hometown. Billy went to St.Louis High in Webster and was tragically hit by a car and killed in the late sixties … early ’70s?
Ben went to Berkley School of Music and still plays. I actually saw Ben a few months ago. I believe Dennis stuck with music as well. I never continued with the guitar playing and found other interests.
I’ve seen a signed copy of the record that has Denis Casaubon’s first name spelled with one “n” in Denis.
Thank you to Bob Stockdale for adding information about the group, and for the photo and business card.
Coincidentally I had a lesson last night with Ben Benbenek whom I believe is the same artist on this 45. I emailed him the link. I’ll let you know if he replies about it.
Yes I am the Ben Bembenek doing the guitar work on both sides. This gem was recorded at the local Webster radio station WESO on tape reels that looked about 2 feet in circumference. 4 of us were jammed in the radio station studio, amps and drums, two live takes and away we go. The drummer Dennis Casuabon and I wrote the songs and Dennis’ dad paid for the record pressing. We got local radio play and a load in most of the jukeboxes around the Webster area. It was enough to get us playing at all the local dance spots (schools, clubs, etc.) and a few gigs in NYC, which in the day was a thrill for a kid from Webster.
The record label name came off a bottle of cologne. I had to buy a copy of the pressing about 2 years ago from some on-line site that somehow had a virgin copy of the original pressing. Cost me $45!!!!!
If you want to move to Florida I could use a good guitar player. Still playing part time and loving it. I switched over to keyboards when I was about 22 and have been playing ever since. I have a couple of copies of the record somewhere out in my garage but I’d have to go digging to find them. Now living happily in south Florida just north of Fort Lauderdale. Livin’ the good life. Happily maried for about 30 years with 2 great kids.
Hope to get to talk to you soon,
Denis